Hajj Travel 2008

Cong. Keith Ellison @ Hajj

2008-12-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

A story in last week's Minnesota Star Tribune highlighted Cong. Keith Ellison's trip to Mecca.

I saw him there and had a chance to speak to him (and take a picture). It was really great to see him there and see that there was more to the man than simply calling himself a "Muslim."

Ellison gave a speech after the sermon on Arafat Day. The line that I remember most is he said that Islam can help America become a moral society again.

Back in the USA

2008-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back in the USA! The flight from Jeddah to NYC was uneventful. I slept and watched a bunch of movies in the trans Atlantic flight.

It was great to see Moina and the kids again.

It's a cliche but this is one of those journey's that's unforgettable. Fortunately since my memory is really bad I'll have this blog to remember the journey by.

Of course praying 5 times a day gets you into a certain rhythm. It'll be interesting to see if I can keep it up in anyway. Unfortunately I'm already falling off the wagon.

One thing has changed though, I don't know whether it's the baby or getting up for fajr but waking up in the morning had gotten a lot easier.

Pray, Eat, Sleep

2008-12-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

I've discovered there are only three things to do in Mecca: Pray, Eat and Sleep.

The daily ritual in Mecca is the same. I would get up for Tahajud (middle of the night prayer) around 4 am. I then stayed in the Haram for Fajr, then come back to the hotel for a breakfast of pancakes and orange juice. I'd still be pretty sleepy so then I'd go to bed until around 11 am. Zuhr prayers would be a little past Noon and then bang bang bang...every couple of hours it would be time for Asr, Maghreb and Isha.

Even though millions of people had left for Medina after Hajj, Mecca was still very crowded. You had to leave at least 45 minutes before the adhan if you wanted to get a place on the first floor. Otherwise you had to take the elevators or stairs to the second or third levels of the mosque.

And if you waited to the time of the iqama forget it. The courtyard of the haram would be packed, spilling onto the steps of the Hilton right across the street.

Because of the 1 hour or so between the afternoon prayers there was hardly time to walk back from the mosque before the next one would begin. Given this schedule it's surprising any work gets done. No wonder the shops have to stay open until midnight. With this schedule people don't really have time to do anything until it's after Isha.

Stoning the Devil

2008-12-11T00:22:00.000-08:00

One of the rituals of Hajj is to stone the devil at each of the three jamarat. This involves picking up some pebbles at Muzdalifa or Mena and throwing them at the stone pillars that have been constructed to mark the jamarat.

Although the stoning is symbolic many pilgrims take the action literally and get very excited about the prospect of battling the devil. Instead of small pebbles they try to find large stones and throw them with such fury that they end up

Several years ago hundreds of people were killed in a stampede that occurred when hundreds of people tried to participate in the stoning at the same time.

The Saudis have tried to remedy this by building a three level structure through which pilgrims can reach the jamarat.

Our camp is across the street so it is not far to walk at all. However the camps of some other countries is quiet a distance away so they have to walk up to 1.5 hours each way in the sweltering heat.

My jamarat experience wasn’t anything special. Beyond the symbolic notion of stoning the devil, whether the internal or external, it didn’t seem as compelling as my experience on Mt. Arafat.

Green Zone Hajj

2008-12-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

I’ve come to think of this Hajj experience as the “Green Zone Hajj.” The Darasalam camp exists like a world unto itself with carpeting, meals served on time, and air conditioning. Hired help haul out the garbage and clean the bathrooms.

The world outside is different as I have previously explained. Garbage is piled up on the street and people sleep in the roads with threadbare blankets covering them.

I encountered a CNN reporter who was here to do a report on Rep. Keith Ellison and told her of the name I had given this experience. Funnily enough she was based in Baghdad. Her response was that she had given up a helmet and a flack for hijab and an abaya.

At Mt. Arafat

2008-12-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

Our camp moved on to the valley below Mr. Arafat. Once again another relatively plush camp in the middle of the desert. Carpeted floors. Cool air conditioning. Coolers full of drinks. Buffet meals served with several kind of salads.

Outside. Chaos. The masses had used any type of tarp or plastic to shelter themselves from the desert sun. Garbage is piling up. Food is either provided by Saudi charities or is brought in live, killed and roasted over an open fire.

Arafat is Hajj according to the Prophetic tradition. It’s where Adam reunited with Eave. It’s where God descends to the lowest level and forgives the sins of everyone.

So everyone is praying non-stop both inside by camp and outside.

The masses have perched themselves on the mountaintops, desperately praying for God to forgive them. I climb up Mt Arafaft wading my way through the crowds jostling myself to the top. Pilgrims have written supplications on the rocks in their native languages. On the top I find an obelisk marking the mountain. Individuals are crowding around it trying to touch it just like at the Kaba, The obelisk has no religious significance, but people think that by touching it they can get closer to God.

Inside the camp there are also prayers going on but in a much more tranquil atmosphere. It’s almost if God is pointing out to us that one of things we have to be thankful for is the bounty we have been blessed with. We can see the differences between our condition and that of the rest of the world right outside our door.

Between the prayers recited by world class imams and speeches, we find out that Congressman Keith Ellison is doing Hajj with us, He exhorts us to bring morality back to America by playing a leadership role in civil society,

Ibn Battuta

2008-12-11T00:19:00.000-08:00

It took the famous Andalusian traveler Ibn Battuta 30 years to travel through the Muslim world. Wandering through the encampment In Mena I was able to accomplish the same journey in 3 hours.

I started my journey at the base camp of the Darusalam. This campsite consisted of the standard Saudi tents constructed for the stay at Mena but upgraded with carpets, air conditioning and an American style washroom facility (although there were a couple of eastern style holes in the ground). The camp also had designated eating areas where the group served buffet meals that were on par with what we were receiving at the hotels but not as much variety.

A guard was stationed at the entrance to keep beggars and others out, but this also prevented other Americans who had relatives in the group from coming in. As I learned later on, each compound has guards but their effectiveness was questionable.

I left the compound on a mission to find the British encampment since my half brother was also doing Hajj and I wanted to see if I could find him in Mena.

As I left, I immediately noticed that the disparity between the first world and the developing had been recreated in Mena. Where we had carpets and air-conditioning there were other pilgrims who had set up their own tents on the surrounding hillsides or on the sides of the roads.

I walked down the road not knowing exactly where I was going. Pretty soon I came across a billboard that showed a map of the entire encampment. I had decided to seek out the British camp since my half-brother was making Hajj and I wanted to meet him.

There were a couple of teenagers dressed in boy scout uniforms giving directions. I don’t speak Arabic so I kept repeating “Brittania” “Britania” I finally found out that the British camp was housed with the larger European contingent. In fact it turned out that except for the deluxe camps, all the other pilgrims were housed regionally. The Asians were in one place of the valley. Africans occupied another part. The Europeans were on the other end of the valley from where I was.

So I started on my trek. The first thing I noticed as I went into the Asian section was that the Pakistanis and Indians were placed next to each other. Their flags were interspersed and fluttering in the wind. Given the history between the two countries and the recent Mumbai bombings this was both surprising but gratifying on the basis of human brotherhood.

Also unlike the Darusalam camp the pilgrims here weren’t being waited on hand and foot. They had to buy their provisions from street vendors whether this was food or the pots to cook it in. I saw people going to these markets and then bring it back to their compound to cook.

On the downside garbage was strewn everywhere. Bottles, empty packaging, and other debris was strewn through the street.

Getting into the compounds was a hit and miss proposition. Each compound had a guard who check ID cards. Sometimes the guard turned out to be a small kid who you could just breeze by. Other times the guard simply wasn’t there.

I walked past Indonesia, China and Myanmar. I was difficult to see how their lives differed because most of the activity was occurring within the tents themselves. To participate you would have to open the tent flap and walked in – that was something I wasn’t prepared to do.

Asia gave way to the Middle East. Next came the African encampment that I didn’t enter. I reached the European encampment.

It was definitely cleaner that Asia or Africa, but instead of native Europeans I found it populated by immigrants from other parts of the Muslim world. The population was organized by travel groups who which were for the main part ethnically based.

In Mecca

2008-12-11T00:14:00.000-08:00

The trip to Mecca to a grueling 12 hours. The bus to the airport and the flight to Jeddah took a couple of hours, but once we were on the ground the delays began.

First the assistant group leader had some sort of baggage problem so the buses did not depart for Mecca for 2 hours. We mockingly took a vote whether or not to leave him behind but in the end we figured it could have just as easily happened to us so we decided to wait for his problems to be cleared.

Mecca is not too far away from Jeddah but apparently this time of the year the Saudi authorities are especially vigilant about preventing non-Muslims through. They examine documents of everyone at multiple check points. By the time we reached Mecca it was 2 am.

The Shoaddah Hotel served us an early morning dinner and then it was off to the Haram to perform Umrah around the Kaba.

The hotlel is 800 meters from the Haram so we walked to it. We entered the mosque through the King Abdul Aziz gate and made our way through the throngs of pilgrims who were converging on the mosque for morning prayers.

The Kaba itself sits in the middle of the mosque; a cube towering the thousands of pilgrims circling it. Depending on your choice of metaphor the multitudes either look like space dust revolving around a nebulae or ants in an ant colony swarming around its queen.

I’ve always thought that its continued existence spoke to man’s pre-modern past. The notion of a monument in the middle of the Arabian desert with a magnetic attraction seems out of place in our Internet age. This in itself is quite attractive because it’s one of the few experiential activities that can’t be replicated

At this time of day there were easily 50 thousand people in the mosque but it was eerily quite. We threw ourselves into the crowd that was circling the Kaba. The scene was like a giant moshpit. People shoving and pushing each other as they moved round and round several times.

The shoving was particularly bad around the Yeminite corner and the meteor stone that is embedded into the Kabba. During one of the rounds we got close enough to touch the Kabba and the Yeminite cornier.

After we finished our circumambulation we did the Sai’i, (walk), between Safwa and Marwa which commemorates Hagar’s desperate search for water for here baby Ismail. Arabs believe that they are the descents of Ismail.

The exercise involves climbing each hill and doing supplications. Perhaps they were hills originally but today the Saudis have enclosed them within the mosque structure and they have been paved over. The only rock showing are small outcrops that people try to stand on to perform their prayers standing up.

Off to Mecca

2008-12-05T00:29:00.000-08:00

Today we are leaving for Mecca for the Umrah that is part the Hajj.

We are leaving by plane at 3 pm but with the ground travel and delays at the airport I don't expect that we will arrive before 10 pm. We will have to perform Umrah quickly as the bus to Mina leaves at 3 am.

This will be the most interesting part of the journey yet because I have to dress in an Ihram and there is a lot of movement between Mecca and it's environs involved.

Tomorrow People Where is Your Past?

2008-12-05T00:16:00.000-08:00

The Ziggy Marley song has it right: If you don't know your past you don't know your future.

Earlier this week we went on a ziarat -- a site seeing tour of Medina. One of the places that we visited was Masjid al-Qiblatain. This mosque is historically important because it contains two Qiblas -- the direction in which Muslims orient their five daily prayers. One qibla is in the direction of Jerusalem, the original qibla. The other is towards Mecca.

The story goes that when a messenger arrived with news from the Prophet that the qibla had been changed, the congregation was in the midst of praying. On hearing the news they turned 180 degrees to Mecca while still in prayer.

When I visited Medina 10 years ago for Umrah the building actually had two physical mimbars (the alcove where the imam stands). Now it seems that the authorities have replaced the Jerusalem mimbar with a door and all that remains is a plaque to remind people of where is was.

The erasure of history in Medina is all around. In the historic cemetery all monuments have been removed. Even in the Prophet's Mosque some calligraphy has been painted over.

My friend Mohammed, who is a seminary student in Medina, says that this is to prevent people from worshiping in incorrect ways. They would pray to the people in the cemetery instead of to God or would venerate the qibla.

Observing people in the cemetery I can see what he means but I think the baby has been thrown out with the preverbal bath water. The wanton destruction of history means that Muslim throughout the world have lost a connection with their past.

To Blog You Need the Internet

2008-12-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

One of the hazards of blogging is that of course you need access to the Internet to accomplish the job.

My hotel in Medina, the Dallah Taiba, was supposed to have Internet access in the lobby. In reality coverage proved to be non-existent. The hotspot went down on Wednesday, and the hotel staff seems to have no inclination to make it functional again.

There are other WiFi locations in the neighborhood so after battling it out with the hotel staff I decided to give these a try. The Daral Taqwa across from the Prophet's mosque had WiFi but it wasn't working. The Hilton had a live connection but it wasn't stable enough to be productive. Same with the Movenpick. The Oberoi charges $10/hr or $30/day. I finally bit the bullet and decided to pay for an hour, but it turned out they had run out of pre-paid cards. (May be they just didn't want me in their lobby). So next on my list I went to the Intercontinental. Success at last.

Looking for WiFi I've had the opportunity visit some of the top hotels in the city (I know I came here to pray not to look for the an Internet connection). Judging by the conditions of the lobbies I think the hotels rank in this order.

1. Oberoi
2. Hilton
3. Movenpick
4 Dallah Taiba.

Of course I haven't seen the rooms in any of the hotels except the last one so it's difficult to give an overall grade to each establishment. The Oberoi, however seemed most similar to an American hotel -- and no pesky Pakistani terrorists to deal with even though everyone in the city is Muslim.

You are the Cap/Scarf You Wear

2008-12-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here in Medina you can usually tell where people are from by looking at what their covering their head with.

Many men wear scull caps or some sort of head covering. Depending on their design or color you can pinpoint their country of origin. There are also differences in clothing, especially among the Africans, but these are less striking.

Saudi men are usually wearing a white thobe with a simple white scull cap covered with a read and white checked kafiya.

Men from India and Pakistan are usually the most conservative in their headgear wearing only a white cap. Sometimes it has geometric lattice work cut on its fabric, but that's not something you can see from a distance.

Bangladishi caps are rounder, deeper and have more color to them.

Muslims from Russia are wearing caps made with blue felt that have tassels.

I've seen older Muslim men from the Caucuses wearing big wooly head coverings.

Nigerians and Africans have brightly hued caps that look like pockets or handkerchiefs that have been put on their heads.

Religious clerics from Iran wrap their heads with black or white turbans and wear long flowing robes. The black turban signifies that they believe that they are descended from the family of the Prophet.

All these type of head gear make me wish that there could be a skull cap swap similar to the Olympics wear people swap pins. Having different caps from around the world would be fun to wear to Friday prayers.

Women by default have their heads covered, but the color of the material that they use and the style on how they cover their hair point to where they are from.

Arab women will dress from head to toe in black abyas with black headscarves. Some women will wear a face covering called a niqab so that only their eyes are showing. (Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder but sometimes in the eyes of the beheld themselves.)

South Asian women will follow suit wrapping their heads in dull colors.

Indonesian and Malaysian women wear scarves that fit over their heads. They put them on like they are wearing sweaters.

Russian women wear headscarves that are tied under their chins in a knot.

There are also many tour groups that give all of their women in their group the same headscarf so that they all look like they are in uniform. I guess this helps people keep track of one another in large crowds.

The Medina Cough

2008-11-30T00:16:00.001-08:00

Everyone coughs and sniffles in Medina. Standing for prayers one is struck by that cacophony of hacks and sneezes that echo through the marble halls.

The culprit I suspect are the prayer carpets laid throughout the mosque. They are petri dishes for the United Nations of germs deposited by thousands of noses planted on them during sujood (prostration).

Some people hope to avoid catching the bug by wearing surgical face masks which makes them look as thought they’re dressing up to do an operation.

My strategy originally was to go out and buy my own prayer rug so I would avoid the carpet altogether. However laziness has taken a hold of me and I’m playing roulette with my health.

I am American/Canadian (circle one) or Multi-Lingual the Good and the Bad

2008-11-30T00:10:00.001-08:00

Speaking English, French and a smattering of Urdu has its distinct advantages and disadvantages.

While I was in the Prophet’s mosque for Fajr prayers I was reading the Quran on my iPhone. A man sat next to me and asked me in English where I was from? This is usually posed as, “Where from?) At times like this I don’t know whether to say America or Canada, but I replied America. He told me he was from Khandahar in Afghanistan. He then asked me whether I was from Pakistan , because I guess I just have that kind of face, and then asked if I spoke Urdu? I replied yes, a little bit.

He told me that times were bad in Afghanistan. I said yes I had heard about that. Ever curious for different perspectives I asked him whether the problem lay with the resurgent Taliban? It’s the Karzai government he said the Taliban were great. Things were safe, and they enforced purdah (veiling) for women. Terrific I thought to myself, just the kind of person who wants to make Afghanistan a better place.

At this point I still wasn’t catching on to the true reason for our impromptu conversation, but all was shortly revealed.

In quick order He told me he had come 2 months ago to Medina with the intention of performing Hajj. He was expecting to pay his way by working but unable to find work in his time here. He was hoping he could still do it, but passing his days sleeping the cold nights in the mosque and subsisting on a few dates. “Inshallah (God Willing),” I replied still not the naïve rub. Then the trap sprang: Could I give him 500 Riyals – the price of paying a driver from Medina to Mecaa? I told him unfortunately I had not brought my wallet to prayers – which I indeed hadn’t.

“No problem,” he said let me come back to the hotel with you. I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea. “What about meeting me hear later right here?” he tried again. I told him that wasn’t going to happen either.

“Think of my daughters,” he beseeched. “It costs money to marry them off.” Well if the Hajj pitch won’t work I guess it’s on to Plan B. I tried my best to ignore him by returning to my Quran reading. He sat there for about 5 minutes more and got the message that I wasn’t going to cough up. He stood up and walked away.

After the prayers walking through the courtyard of the masjid (mosque) I saw a group of African men dressed in identical shirts that had the pattern of a country imprinted on them. “Salaam Alaikum,” I said stopping one of them. “Where are you from?” Guinea he replied.

Alors vous parlez Francais, I tried. Bien sur he responded.

Your from Morocco he asked. No, I’m Canadian I said with a flourish of pride.

We had a good short conversation. Turned our that they had arrived last week and had gone to Mecca first. They introduced themselves to me each one by name and seemed so happy that I had stopped them to speak. They then obliged me by posing for a group pose.

Finally in Medina!

2008-11-30T00:06:00.000-08:00

After 26 hours of travel we finally arrived in Medina!

This grueling journey involved a 12 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, a 5 hour lay-over, then another 2.5 hour flight to Jeddah, a 5 hour layover; and then 1.5 hour flight to Medina. There was also some waiting on the tarmac and a bus ride to our hotel to make up the rest.

During the flight to Abu Dhabi I boned up on Hajj 101. Before leaving I went a little crazy on Amazon.com buying four books that would give me some insight into the whys and wherefores of Hajj. The Dar el Salaam group had done some online seminars and provided a DVD but I didn’t find these terribly useful.

On the plane there were three options: a) Sleep; b) Watch movies; or c) Read the books. I did catch a nap having woken up at 5 am, but the inner Haji-to-be in me didn’t feel it was a good use of my time watching mediocre Hollywood movies, so I started cracking the books and managed to read 3.

So first I read “Hajj & Umrjah: The Islamic Pilgramage from A to Z “ I turned out to be an excellent guide to the bare basics of Hajj. It gives step-by-step instructions to the orthodox way of completing Hajj, In essence it was a list of answers but did not explore the differing points of view for each topic.

After reading 3 books I did succumb to the temptation of watching a few flicks on the on-demand video service. I watched Get Smart, which I hadn’t seen before, and Hancock which I had seen over the summer.

When we got off the plan in Abu Dhabi we made the best of the layover by visiting my mother’s uncle who lives in the city.

Along the way we stopped to see the city’s new Grand Mosque which is simply breathtakingly beautiful. The exterior architecture is quite traditional but the interior is all about nature . There are terracotta mosaics depicting blooming flowers. Mother of Pearl is inlaid in the marble columns like vines. There are gigantic flower-type chandeliers under each of the mosque’s three domes. There was so much to see but we were quite rushed.

At my uncle’s apartment it was very touching to see him. He’s the last remaining sibling of my grandmother’s family. Looking at him reminded me so much of my grandmother. Her small stature and pale skin. It always intrigued my how my grandmother’s brother were educated doctors and lawyers who could speak English, yet she struggled to master the language all her life. “Me no speak English” was her standard response to any question, but in reality after living 33 years in England and Canada took in much more than she let on.

Back through Abu Dhabi’s immigration and customs control we had to have our hand baggage scanned three times before boarding.

Since I had not slept for about 21 hours I decided to not kill time by watching another movie and try to sleep. Even though it was only for a couple of hours it’s amazing how much a little rest prevents absolute collapse.

After we landed in Jeddah we were packed on buses and taken to the special Hajj terminal for immigration and customs processing. The room was packed with about 900 people from 3 different flights.

At each step along the way the group that we were flying with was getting more diverse. At the beginning everyone spoke English, but then in AD we were joined by many more people that spoke only Arabic. Now waiting for immigration in Jeddah we were surrounded by Sudanese and Indonesians.

Everyone of course wanted to be processed at once. A munchkin seized official with a walke-talkie was racing around the room and chastising people in a high pitched voice if they tried to jump the line.

The process in Jeddah involved an assembly line of officials looking at our passports and putting various stamps and stickers onto its pages.

Then we claimed our baggage and put it through a scanner. It’s the first time I’ve had someone scan baggage coming into the country. I guess the Saudis don’t have much faith in the AD security process or they’re looking for different things. I was surprised that beyond the scan they didn’t to any other intrusive searching of the bags. Guess I could have kept the book I left in AD.

Once we got our bags we transferred them onto a cart that would take them to our Medina flight, and then proceeded to take our bank drafts and give them the “Unified Agents” who were in effect collecting a toll tax.

We then marched to a waiting area within the terminal and waited some more.

When the flight for Medina was ready we were given our boarding passes but these were handed out randomly so you didn’t necessarily get one with your name, just a seat with someone else’s name.

The flight was an hour long and I just slept. When we got to Medina we boarded buses that took us to our hotel which is right across from the Prophet’s mosque.

Flickr Blocked in Abu Dhabi

2008-11-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

My attempt to upload my pictured in Abu Dhabi was foiled because Flickr is apparently blocked on an ISP level in Abu Dhabi

The Journey Begins

2008-11-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

We left home this morning at around 6:30 am for a drive to JFK. My father-in-law drove us to the airport and of course Bilal, who is always ready to go to the airport came with us. Aisha on the other hand is not a morning person and is just happy to sleep and just gave me a good night kiss in her sleep.

The drive was uneventful. Just listened to NPR about all the attacks in Mumbai. The juxtaposition of going to Hajj and listening about terrorism committed by so-called Islamic groups is jarring.

At the airport there was a huge sign that said Dar-el-Salaam Travel so representatives from the agency were able to help us check-in.

We got Bilal some juice and a croissant and he also played a racing game in the small arcade that they have here. Although the game did not have any sound.

We're sitting in the departure lounge right now watching CNN live. More news about the Mumbai attacks. I think it's going to be the news theme of this trip unfortunately.

Hajj Ads

2008-11-23T22:08:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that there are some places still advertising Hajj packages for 2008 at this late juncture. I wonder how people will ever get visas to go at this stage. I've heard that there are many open seats because of the economic situation, but it doesn't seem like the prices are any cheaper since when I booked in August. I'm sure I'll be hearing pricing stories from people along my journey.

First Entry

2008-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Inshallah I will be leaving for Hajj with my mother on 11/27. T-3 days to go.

Historically the pilgrimage has involved a great deal of sacrifice in both time and treasure. Journeys to Mecca used to last years and many people spent years saving up for their once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Today's jet-age Hajj may take less toll from a time perspective but sacrifices still have to be made. I'm leaving behind Moina to cope with our three week old son Salman, not to mention our other two children. (What was I thinking!) I'll be away from work for three weeks at a time when the economy is in shambles. (I'm hoping to find a cyber cafe in Medina so I can plug in for an hour a day and make some skype calls.)

Our first stop is Medina, then Hajj, and then about a week in Mecca. Don't know if it will be possible, but I'm going to look into seeing whether I can come back sooner so that my time away will not be so long.

I still have to pack. I want to order some hiking sandals, and some books about Hajj to read along the way.